Fish Study: Brown Trout

The Brown Trout-.

Brown trout are considered to be native to Europe and Asia, although there are large populations of landlocked Brown’s in Greece and Estonia.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Genus: Salmo
Species: Salmo Trutta

The Brown is a mid-size fish averaging 2lbs or less. Browns are very similar to Atlantic salmon in which a typical female produces 900 eggs per pound of body weight. They can live to the ages of 20 years old but in today’s world they have a higher risk of death due to warming water temperatures, invasive species and most recently found that Brown’s (typically males) die after spawning.

Brown’s typically grow to larger sizes then the average 2lbs due to an abundance of forage fish in the waters they live in today. Browns are a very active feeding fish during both night and day. They are a very opportunistic fish and will eat when there is food available to them. They mainly feed on invertebrates, fish, frogs, mice, birds and all forms of insects near or at the water’s surface.

These fish can vary in all shapes, sizes and color. Browns can be very silvery with few spots to their well know brassy brown with many spots. The more silvery browns can be mistaken for rainbow trout by many people. The "Loch Leven" name was given to the Brown due to larger fins, a slimmer body, and heavy black spotting, lacking the red spots.

Brown trout rarely form hybrids due to infertility with other species. Although there is an occasion where the Browns will spawn with a brook trout creating a known species (One that we have seen and caught here near great falls called the "Tiger Trout."

Here are some things that you may not have known about the Brown Trout or "Salmo Trutta."